


Heart of the Earth

by FrostOverlord



Series: Song of the Earth [2]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Rebirth, The Beginning, The Earth - Freeform, Unconventional Point of View, implied suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-11 18:50:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7903711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostOverlord/pseuds/FrostOverlord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Beginning, there was naught but stone and fire. </p><p>Then, like a wish-bringer reaching it's end, the Caretaker descended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart of the Earth

In the beginning, there was no wind. No grass. No birds of the sky or beasts of the land. In the beginning there was only lopsided stone and fire and frozen waters hidden deep below. The planet rolled in its rotation of its star, slow, so slowly, spiraling inwards. Unaware of its looming demise. Unaware of itself. Unalive for nearly an Eon.

And then, like a wish-granter reaching it’s end, the Caretaker descended from the heavens. And with him, the light of creation. Stardust to seeds, stone into soil. He changed the very shape of the world, saved it from a demise it would never know had almost happened, and with the Light of Creation’s Birth he breathed life into its empty husk.

With each pulse of light inside its heart (not its core; its core would not see the light of creation for many a millenia more), the Earth would shiver. Soon, too soon, too late, just on time, the Earth began to live. To not live. To be.

It did not speak to the caretaker, not yet. Its voice was not yet the wind that it had only just discovered, nor the animals yet to be born. It clattered rocks together, shook the waters, doused the flames only to light them again, but no whispers would be heard. For the first millennium, the infant planet tested itself, tested its heart. For the first millennium of its life, it crawled.

 

_Speak. Speak speak speak speak learn grow learn grow be be be be!_

 

An era passed, and the Earth found its voice.

 

_Small. Small small small small so small still growing must grow big big big big. Dig Caretaker dig dig dig dig make home what is home am I home?_

_Home home home home._

 

It spoke. To itself, to the little creatures too small to be seen, to the Caretaker, tending to his future home. The Earth did not know if the Caretaker could hear it, or if he could understand, but it still spoke to him. It spoke of the sky, of the seas, of _little creatures change quick quick quick quick why change quickly why not slow? Strange strange strange strange little creatures. Not like Caretaker. None like Caretaker._

The Caretaker would smile, sometimes, as though he understood, and felt the Earth’s excitement. At other times, he frowned. His nose would scrunch, his whiskers shiver. His ears would fall flat. And other times still, rarer yet than the frowns and flattened ears, water would fall from the Caretaker’s eyes. Though as the eon drew to its middle, the water fell more and more.

The Earth, so new, did not yet understand sadness. It did not understand despair.

All too soon, another era reached its close. All too soon, it learned.

 

_Swing. Swing swing swing swing why do you swing Caretaker? why do you stop and hang and swing swing swing swing?_

 

The Caretaker did not answer. The Caretaker did not move.

The little creatures had always shied away from the Caretaker, drenched as he was in Creation’s Birthlight. Now, though, they began to approach him. Drawn by a dimness foreign to his form.

 

_Look! Look look look look little creatures shy creatures look see look see why don’t you look can’t you look?_

 

The Caretaker remained still, and so the Earth too fell still to listen.

 

_Breathe. Breathe breathe breathe breathe why don’t you breath where did breath go did it sleep wake up up up up._

 

It listened.

 

_Wake wake wake wake. Won’t wake up why don’t you wake up? Still still still still stop being still. Must move must make must be be be be._

 

And in listening, it understood.

 

_Death._

 

And in understanding, it felt.

And for the first time, the Earth cried. The skies darkened, and it rained. The stone and soil slid and shook and cracked, and the Caretaker fell from his perch. Around him pooled tears of amber, driving away the little creatures and their rot. In the heavens above, the moon it had made in its infancy slipped out of its slackened grip.

And when finally the Earth fell still, it understood sadness. It understood loss.

It understood hopelessness.

But a planet is not meant to mourn. Not forever, even when the Caretaker’s loss left an inexplicable void behind. And at the start of the third Eon, it began trying to grow again. The little creatures returned, though not as before the Caretaker’s end. Never as before, they always changed. They changed. And changed once more.

They changed, but did not advance.

The Earth, so tied to the creatures that call it home, began to stagnate. The newer little creatures spat poison into the air. Slowly, so slowly, they drowned those which came before them. Winter fell upon the world, and the little creatures, the only life besides the caretaker that the Earth had even known, began to die.

 

_Cold. Cold cold cold cold why cold why dead why poison why die die die die. Little creatures shy creatures eat live poison each other stop stop stop stop._

_Must stop._

 

In the face of demise, the Earth saw need for action.

 

_Must fix._

 

But it knew not how. In the face of demise, the Earth was lost.

 

_How?_

 

The Earth, so young, looked inside itself for a solution to the catastrophe that threatened the life that called it home. And in its heart, it saw The Light.

 

_Shine. Shine shine shine shine light of creation birth life new new new new. But light alone cannot stop cold. Cannot stop death. Needs more. Needs something._

 

The Light gave no advice to the Earth.

 

_Hopeless._

 

But truth be told, the Earth never needed it to.

 

_No hope, cannot stop death. Cannot stop cold. No hope. no life birth new shine shine shine shine. Just blue on black on cold on death death death death._

 

The Earth needed only to remember.

 

 _Can’t fix. Can’t turn back._

 

A Caretaker reshaping the land to change it’s fate. A Caretaker breathing life into the barren soil.

 

_Can’t go back._

 

A Caretaker’s whispers to the planet’s heart, sounds that will someday be compared to music trickling past his lips.

 

_Can’t fix alone, but none to help._

 

A Caretaker helping a little creature to survive, and releasing its progeny back into the world.

_Need help._

 

A Caretaker waiting, Hope shining brightly in his heart.

 

_Need. Need need need need._

 

In desperation, the Earth reaches inside itself, and finds the only other thing which might bring its salvation. The wind howls. Snow falls in sheets.

Up above, a foreign moon, just finding home on the Earth’s shoulder, witnesses a miracle.

 

_Need death to make way for life, but too much Death. Too much._

 

The stone and soil writhe, pulling at something deep below.

 

_Too much death. Needs life. Needs new new new new._

 

A casket of amber breaks the surface, a Caretaker preserved within.

 

_Needs life. Needs light. Needs Hope._

 

A crack, like lightning, and the prison breaks.

 

_Wake up._

 

A Caretaker catches on the air, cradled in the breeze.

 

_Live. Live Live Live Live._

 

A beat. A shiver. A breath.

 

_Live, Caretaker._

 

A Caretaker falls to his knees, the snow on the ground melting in his presence.

 

_Live, Hope._

 

A Caretaker’s eyes open, and the Earth feels warmth once more.

 

_Live._

**Author's Note:**

> Not really much to say on this one, other than it's been sitting around missing the last several paragraphs for like two months. Hope you guys enjoy it. :P


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